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Mini-HOWTO

Linux Dial-Up Connection to Mason Cluster including the  fine print which isn't printed elsewhere.  

Caveats

Jan 2001, Linux RedHat 7 Gnome "Programs => Internet => Dialup Configuration" panel (as root) correctly sets up the chat script to GMU relieving the need to delete the "" from the end of the script as described below.  That is, most of the information below is now probably irrelevant.
This information was developed with RedHat 5.1 (works also with RH 6.0 with addition of one line in options file, "noauth", kjh)  distribution, Linux version 2.0.34 (root@stokrotka) (gcc version 2.7.2.3) #2 Thu Aug 13 07:20:22 EDT 1998 [verified RH 6.1, Aug 2000]
pppd
PPP  2.3.11
Cyrix 686, 150 mHz[AMD-K6, 550 MHz]
US Robotics Sportster voice 28.8 faxmodem, internal[US Robotics Sportster 56k]
Netmonitor capture of NT4 RAS connection to Mason Cluster via PCMCIA modem
Newsgroup  comp.os.linux.networking posting from khmi@keljukko.menet.fi (Kalevi Hautaniemi)  of 10 Aug 1998, 23:05:25 +0300 which is INCORRECT for MasonCluster
The assumption is that you have read the  other relevant publicly available HOWTOs and mini-HOWTOs, most of which come with the RedHat distribution under /usr/doc.

Setup

  1. Most of the setup can be done using netcfg
    1. Names
      1. Hostname:  enter the name of your local machine which you want to dial into Mason
      2. Domain:  gmu.edu
      3. Nameservers:
        1. 127.0.0.1
        2. 129.174.1.8
        3. 129.174.1.3
    2. Hosts, the first and last entries are required
      1. 127.0.0.1    localhost    lo localhost.localdomain
      2. 129.174.140.5    cpe.gmu.edu    www.cpe.gmu.edu    roza.gmu.edu
      3. 129.174.1.13    osf1.gmu.edu
      4. 129.174.xxx.xxx    name of your local machine which you use to dial in to the Mason cluster
    3. Interfaces
      1. Add a device
        1. ppp0
        2. PAP protocol
        3. your mason cluster user name (your name on osf1.gmu.edu seems to work)
        4. your mason cluster password
        5. hardware flow control
        6. escape control characters (may not be needed)
        7. line speed, whatever your modem can handle, this is the speed from the computer to the modem, not over the phone line
        8. Modem Port:  /dev/modem, make sure there is a symbolic link from /dev/modem to your actual device
        9. PPP Options:    leave blank since options which are entered into the /etc/ppp/options file and there is no information on what netcfg will accept as entries here (as opposed to what the pppd (8) man pages say are the acceptable options)
        10. . Modem Init String:   ATZ, this ends up in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/chat-ppp0    chat script.
        11. Modem dial command:  ATDT, ditto above
        12. . Phone Number (student dialup):  7034262468
        13. . If you check debug connection, read the pppd(8) man pages cause you have to edit the /etc/syslog.conf   file to get the log.  Also, everything is not logged using this debug command, only the pppd exchanges with the server.  To debug the modem connection,  you need to log the local2 data.  That is, you need to add something similar to the following two lines to /etc/syslog.conf if you want to (need to?) debug
          1. # ppp (and other) daemon errors
          2. daemon.*      /var/log/ppp
          3. # ppp sample options menu says log is here
          4. local2.*      /var/log/pppalso
        14. . Networking: only need to check the "set default route..." option, others blank.
        15. . PAP: Hmmm, sometimes has username and password, sometimes not, anyway, do not  need to add it here since it asks you for them as part of "add" script and they seem to get put in the right place, namely the /etc/ppp/pap-secrets file.
      2. Be sure to save it when exiting netcfg
  2. Fine tuning
    1. Verify that the /etc/ppp/pap-secrets file looks something like this pap-secrets.proto file
    2. Verify that the /etc/ppp/options file looks something like options.proto file.  In particular, it must have the  line

        3. "name your_username_on_Mason_Cluster"
        else ppp will user your computer name to try to authenticate.

    3. Verify that the modem chat script, /etc/syconfig/network-scripts/chat-ppp0 file looks something like chat-ppp0
      1. Here is the real Fine Print....   Make sure that there is no ''  (double single apostrophes) in the last line after 'CONNECTION'.  There must be NOTHING after the word 'CONNECTION'.  If you use lilnuxconf or control panel, these quotes will be automatically added.
  3. If you still have problems, you can compare the output produced by the pppd debug option to the netmon output from NT4 which contains extensive explanation of the individual bytes which are transmitted.  This link has been disabled when I noticed it was accessed from a "strange" site.   If you really need it, contact mailto:khintz@gmu.edu
  4. To activate the ppp interface
    1. run netcfg (the network configurator)
    2. select interfaces
    3. select ppp0
    4. select  activate
    5. [If you have RH 6.1 and are running Enlightenment window manager, you can go to the System Menus (the one with the footprint), select Internet, select RH PPP Dialer, and select ppp0.]
  5. To close the connection
    1. As above, but select deactivate
    2. [RH 6.1, Enlightenment WM, left click on RH PPP Dialer to close]

Last edit 01/14/01 19:56

Maintainer of page: mailto:khintz@gmu.edu